[Buddha-l] Some hae meat and canna eat

[Richard Hayes]

On Jun 24, 2010, at 3:00 PM, Erik Hoogcarspel wrote:

> I didn´t, but I remember I was quite embarrassed when I saw at the end 
> of a macrobiotic retreat the Japanese master march on the tunes of a 
> military orchestra lighting a cigarette. Later I was told that on his 
> level he could effort to do these things.

A reformed macrobioticist Zen teacher I knew years ago was also struck by the smoking in the ranks of the prime movers of the macrobiotic diet. When he asked about it, he was told something about tobacco having a lot of yang, which counteracted the yin in some staple in the Japanese diet. So it's quite OK for Japanese people to smoke heavily, since it promotes their health.

> Agreed, but only if you don´t chew, because chewing means you divert to 
> the left or right.

It could be that right here on buddha-l we have witnessed the birth of the swallow-whole vegan raw-food school of Mahayana Buddhism. Soon I'm sure there will be a schism. Some will insist on swallowing food whole without chewing while running a marathon, and others will insist on swallowing food without chewing while hanging upside down from the upper limb of a high tree. When it comes to the religious politics of diet, nothing is ever simple.

Richard Hayes